Household Name Records

This awesome little compilation CD kicks off in the only way it possibly could have done to feel authentic – with a good fire and passion. This opening track is provided by the ever improving amazing English band that is Five Knuckle with the awesome ‘Not in my name.’ They provide the CD with a good, fiery opening that will get the juices flowing and get you up on your feet. I have always loved the band and think that this is an amazing opening for such a compilation CD – start as you mean to go on. Straight after this comes the cracking ‘Gotta Say Focussed,’ that anyone with Adequate7’s ‘Songs of innocence and of experience’ should know. This is one of the best tracks on their album I feel, so it was great to see it going straight on to this sampler CD because sometimes on this sort of thing, the tracks that are picked are not those that you feel most comfortable with.

The Filaments track on the compilation is also a blinder. The band are always a pleasure to listen to with their amazing street punk styling. You can never get enough of this band – any band that can get away with mixing street punk up with Ska riffs has definitely got something special going for them. A lot of street bands try and add a tinge of Ska to their music and it all just goes horribly wrong! When The Filaments do this however, it all just sounds like it has been done to perfection. I wish I could say that the Leftover Crack tune had been done to perfection as well, but if I did then id be lying. ‘Operation M.O.V.E’ is definitely not one of the bands better tracks and anyone listening to the band for the first time with this track will not be getting a fair idea of the band. I usually love the band to death, but this track just doesn’t do it for me – something is just not quite right about it and it stands out like a sore thumb. It is not a terrible track by any means, its just not their best – an average track from an extremely influential and exciting band. However, I still strongly believe that when the album comes out later this year it will be a blinder and put a smile on my face as the band always have done and hopefully always will.

Antimaniax play Ska infested fun punk – and they are amazingly good at what they do. You just cant help but skank when you start listening to this band – they convey such energy in their music and have an awe of excitement in what they do. You really cant help but love this band – even if you are not a fan of Ska, you have to be able to see that this band are good at what they do. Another track that stands out as being exciting is The Foamers track ‘Erase all the mistakes you made.’ This is a crazily good track with the band playing their usual brand of fast punk with the occasional ska riff or two. They definitely sound a lot better since they dropped the horn section – their music works a lot better with subtle Ska touches rather than blatant, huge horn lines. Ye Wiles is another band worth noting – this Kent band released a great album, ‘Smoothing Away The Horrors Of Indigestion’ so get yourself a copy of this if you can as it really is quite good. I cant really explain the style of the music or how on earth it works – but all you have to know is it does work and it does sound good. Howards Alias are not sounding like the band of old, but don’t get me wrong – they are still sounding pretty good for it and this is still quite a cracking tune but its just not the band we all use to know and love.

Captain Everything make their contribution to the CD with spritely little number ‘There is no “I” in scene’ which of course is a catchy little track of Pop Punk gold. I’m sure you are familiar with the band by now as they have been around for a good while and released 2 cracking albums on HHN so if you’re not familiar with the band then where have you been?! I don’t always really like Pop Punk but C*E are just doing it a tad different and sound amazing for it! A few years ago I first heard the ‘Make the love connection’ split CD with C*E and Route215 sharing the limelight and was extremely impressed. To this day, both bands continue to impress me and have improved so much since that All Star Records release.

The CD comes to an end with ‘The big silence’ by John Holmes. This rounds the CD off nicely because it kicked off with Five Knuckle, the hardcore UK legends and finishes with this – another track of hardcore goodness. Power and passion is how the CD finishes, and I absolutely love it! So there you have it people – that is the 2004 sampler from those lovely people at Household Name Records. Try and grab yourself a copy of this CD at some point whether you are a HHN veteran or a HHN newbie, as there is sure to be something on here that floats your boat and the chances are you’ll discover a band or two that you didn’t realise you liked or even existed.

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Ok, this is a compilation CD comprising of some of the best bands on Household Name Records with many different genres of music coming in here, with the downright punk rock, the plain hardcore, and the infectious skacore. The label strives to get the best music out their, and in my opinion they definitely do this because every band that they sign have considerable talent for what they do and this CD certainly reflects this.

The many different styles on show here show bands of an extremely high calibre with the best tracks from all of your favourite bands. You have the Skacore on this CD represented by Milton Keynes very own Capdown, and the track which they provide for this CD is the skank inducing ‘Faith No More.’ This is an extremely heavy track, showing Capdown’s fine Skacore at its best as this is one of my favourites by them and I was really pleased to see it on here. It is extremely guitar heavy, with fast drumming, extreme vocals and a great Ska feel about it that makes you realise that this is Capdown that you are listening to and once you learn this it is something that you will never forget.

There are also plain old Ska tunes on this one without the core such as Kenisia, and to a certain extent Big D. Ok, if you want you could categorise Big D as Skacore but I really don’t think that they are to be honest, as they have a blinding horn section, awesome drumming, great guitar playing, and the most amazing vocals you have ever heard in your life. Sure, their vocals do have a tendency to go Hardcore sometimes but they are not always like this and they are not just heavy for the sake of it, the band go heavy when they feel that they need to go heavy to put across their points. Kenisia on the other hand are more of a Ska Punk outfit with a distinct Ska beat about it, with an added flavouring of Punk and infectiously catchy lyrics. The vocals here are what make it so special, with a Ska feel throughout they are always strong and stand out as being far more than your average, run of the mill Ska Punk band that seem to be one a penny at the minute. Lightyear also provide a quite Ska’y tune with ‘Three Basics,’ one of their popular tracks from the critically acclaimed ‘Call of the Weasel Clan.’

If Punk Rock is more your thing then maybe you should check out Antimaniax as this track is a good example of Punk Rock with extremely Punk vocals and also a slight Ska feel about it. Other Punk songs that seem to stand out here are Captain Everything’s ‘Picture Of You,’ (an infectiously catchy tune with a very English feel about it,) The Take’s ‘Gene Pool Song,’ (Punk how you’ve always imagined it,) and Adequate 7’s ‘Two Minutes’ (one of those songs that no matter how many times you listen to it, it is never enough and you always have to go back for more.) Not to be forgotten of course is the classic ‘Drunks and Punks’ by The Foamers, which you may have heard on their self released ‘Football EP.’ A great track of Punk Rock fineness from a band that know the scene back to front and have Punk tunes that you would die for.

Ok, last stop – Hardcore. There are many Hardcore bands on this CD and this is still good to here, as once upon a time Household Name Records was all about Hardcore so it is good to see that they have not forgotten their roots. You have the Swedish Punk scandal of Da Skywalkers, Fig 4.0s aggressive hardcore, Five Knuckles angry and meaningful ‘State Of Awareness’ – one of the first songs I heard by them and still one of my favourites, Thinktank’s melodic-hardcore at the flick of the switch take, and my favourite of them all – Red Lights Flash with ‘The Red Tape.’ This is an amazing track and in my opinion is probably the best track on here. This has to be one of my favourite bands of all time, this band is an extremely exciting one with hardcore vocals, biting guitars, and heavy drumming. If this isn’t a great combination then I honestly don’t know what is. Ever since I set my eyes on this band they have been in my CD Changer. Not one for the faint hearted this one, but ones for the likes of me who love a lot of bite in their music and have a personal motto that is ‘the angrier the better.’

So, there you have it – one of the greatest compilations ever put together by man and released on the best British label that there is, that’s right, Household Name! Get a load of this as for only a quid you can be in on the action so get in touch with the label now you stingy git – its only a quid at the end of the day, even if you don’t like it it’ll make a good beer mat!

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